RedKissed Reviews

The American Heiress by Roxanne Dent

2009-12-20T14:20:00.000-08:00

I normally don't review works available for sale from Ravenous Romance on this blog because I keep this one for non-erotic works, but The American Heiress was more of a sweet romance to me than an erotic romance, so I've chosen to review it here. I bought this title for 99 cents as part of the Ravenous Romance 1 year anniversary sale this past December, and it was one of the first ebook titles I bought in a big batch that I read in December of 2009.

This book very much reminded me of a Regency romance with the London setting, the balls, fancy gowns, uses of chaperons etc. I like picking up a Regency every once in awhile to remind me that there's more out there than murder mysteries and fantasy.

Dent does a good job of keeping her characters consistent. The only thing I didn't like about The American Heiress was that I wasn't sure if I was rooting for the protagonist to fall in love with Miles or Lord Stratford. It took me a long time to figure out which one I was supposed to be rooting for.

I can't say I was very shocked or surprised by how this novel ended, but Regency romance are usually a little more predictable than murder mysteries with the happily ever after type endings and the conventions of the sub-genre in general.

I give this one 4 stars **** and would read another Roxanne Dent title again. I enjoyed the novel.

A Thousand Bones by P.J. Parrish

2009-12-20T14:05:00.000-08:00

A Thousand Bones by P.J. Parrish is the story of Joette Frye's early career as a police office when she worked in Echo Bay, MI. Louis Kincaid makes a very small appearance in the beginning and end of this novel, though almost all the action takes place years before she met Louis.

I made the mistake of reading this one after reading South of Hell, so I was a little confused because I didn't realize until later that they were released in the opposite order. The confusion wasn't enough to make me not understand this story. The plot was very much self contained, and had I plucked it from the middle of the series without any knowledge of Louis or Joe, I would have still thought it was a really good book.

The pacing of this one wasn't quite as fast as some of the others. I read A Thousand Bones in four days. I was still gripped by the plot, but the first half of the book took a lot more setup than the others I've read by Parrish so far.

I still give this one 5 stars ***** because the plot was very well done as was the characterization. Even though I didn't always agree with the characters' choices, I found myself liking Joe more and more by the end.

My one criticism is that I was confused by having a character named Mike and one named Mack. They're distinct enough names, but since they both have an M and a K in them, I found myself rereading a few random paragraphs trying to figure out what was happening because my mind was reading one name when the other name was actually written on the page.

South of Hell by P.J. Parrish

2009-12-20T13:52:00.000-08:00

South of Hell by P.J. Parrish was a delight to read. Louis Kincaid and his girlfriend, Joette Frye, work together to solve a complex crime, a cold case, in Ann Arbor, MI. I got to see a new side to Louis Kincaid that I rather enjoyed as well as read a murder mystery that contained the perfect balance of the paranormal.

Usually I have a few reservations about mixing paranormal and murder mysteries, but I completely bought this plot. The book was spooky. It crossed the paranormal into reality in such a way that I found myself wondering, What if something like this really happened? I couldn't completely dismiss Amy's knowledge of the past and of her mother.

I liked the complexity of the characters. All of them, from Jake to Louis, Joe, Amy, and Louis' daughter were three dimensional to me. I couldn't get enough. I read this book in under a day also, because there was more than a need to know how it ended. I needed to know how it began.

I give this one 5 stars. *****.

Cherry Bomb by J.A. Konrath

2009-12-20T13:47:00.000-08:00

Cherry Bomb is the latest in the Jack Daniels series by J.A. Konrath. Like the previous books, it is fast-paced and action packed.

The tone of this book is much darker than the other books. I don't believe in spoilers, so I won't mention why, but I will say that Jack Daniels in many ways is a changed woman in Cherry Bomb.

I give this one 3 1/2 stars ***1/2 because I like that Jack is flawed, but I thought she was a little too flawed in Cherry Bomb. I wanted the good guys to win in the right way, and Jack, Phin, and Harry go about the action of this book in a way that reminded me more of a vigil ante than the hero I'm used to.

I still read this one in under two days, I still recommend it, but I hope that the next book in the series is a little less dark. I liked the old Jack better.

One thing I did like was the scene where Jack's mother was on the cruise ship. That part brightened the mood a little for me.

I also wasn't sure I wanted to root for Jack and Phin to hook up. Part of their relationship felt really right, and other aspects of it felt totally wrong. I still haven't made up my mind yet.

Fuzzy Navel by J.A. Konrath

2009-12-20T13:31:00.001-08:00

Fuzzy Navel by J.A. Konrath is the next book in the Jack Daniels series. Of all the books in the series, this was the one I enjoyed the most. The speed was break neck; the action was well written, and the characters all got a chance to interact throughout the scenes.

I read this book in under one day. I actually threw the book on the floor when I finished because the end made me want more. Konrath leaves the reader hanging at the end of this one. I could wait to read the next book in the series, Cherry Bomb. I had to know the outcome of the action from Fuzzy Navel. Like the other books in the series, there was an except at the end from the next book, but it didn't hold any clues to what I wanted to know.

I was on the edge of my seat during the entire book. I give this one 5 stars ***** because it was one of the best page turners I have ever read.

Dirty Martini by J.A. Konrath

2009-12-13T17:11:00.001-08:00

Dirty Martini by J.A. Konrath is the fourth book in the Jack Daniels series. Jack has to catch a poisoner before he kills thousands of people in the greater Chicago area. The killer is so effective at his work that Jack sees many of the people closest to her die in horrible ways.

I wanted to give this book 5 stars. Up until the final few chapters, I would have given it 5 stars, hands down. Of the first four books in the series, this was the one I read the quickest. I digested the entire thing in under 6 hours. I was riveted by the killer and couldn't wait to figure out how Jack would catch him.

I thought the methods the killer used were the most unique of the first four Jack Daniels books, and the characters more human. I liked that I finally got to see more of Jack and Herb's humanity.

What makes me give this one 3 stars *** is that the end was too tidy. I lost my suspension of disbelief. My inner voice kept screaming at me in the final 3-4 chapters that it was too far out in left field for Jack to be able to survive all the things she was going through.

I wasn't deterred from continuing to read other books in the series.

Rusty Nail by J.A. Konrath

2009-12-13T17:00:00.000-08:00

Rusty Nail by J.A. Konrath is the third book in the Jack Daniels series. Jack has to figure out the clues of the Gingerbread Man's family to figure out who the Killer(s) is/are. Her partner, Herb Benedict, returns to being his normal self. (Herb was a bit of a jerk in Bloody Mary). I was glad Herb was more likable in Rusty Nail.

It took me a really long time to figure out why this one was titled Rusty Nail, but after finishing the entire novel, the title made sense. Mr. Friskers, Jack's cat, plays a nice role in this book too. I was glad Konrath kept Mr. Friskers as an active character.

I give this one five stars ***** for several reasons.

I finished the book in under a day because I had to know how it ended.

I liked that Konrath was able to mix the darker characters of the Kork family with the humor I was used to from Whisky Sour and Bloody Mary. I think Konrath struck a nice balance between giving the reader a dark, funny, and twisted plot.

Harry McGlade makes another appearance in Rusty Nail. He plays what I felt was a large role in this novel. I don't know why, but I like Harry better than even Jack. He's an annoying SOB, but I like him anyway.

Bloody Mary by J.A. Konrath

2009-11-30T13:18:00.000-08:00

Bloody Mary by J.A. Konrath is the second book in the Jacqueline, "Jack" Daniels series of murder mysteries. This book took on a little bit of a different tone than Whiskey Sour, and I liked it for a lot of different reasons than I liked Whiskey Sour.

After the killer is caught and about to be tried, there's a twist I completely didn't see coming. I raced to read the end to find out how the trial with the killer would conclude.

Mr. Fiskers, the cat Jack rescues from one of the murder victim's apartment, is a character in and of himself. The thing I will remember the most about Bloody Mary was Mr. Fiskers, hands down. I actually read parts of this book aloud to my husband because I was laughing so hard at the cat and how Konrath describes it.

Herb Benedict, Jack's partner, acted very differently than in Whiskey Sour. I didn't like him as well in Bloody Mary, though I thought Konrath did a good job of redeeming him in the end. I didn't like thinking of him as a jerk. I was glad to find out at the book's conclusion that he really wasn't a jerk.

Harry McGlade, Jack's old partner and annoying friend makes a comeback in Bloody Mary. He manages to help Jack and drive her crazy at the same time. I liked him more in this one than in Whiskey Sour.

What I liked the best about Bloody Mary (other than Mr. Fiskers) is the conflict Jack has to face between her ex-husband and Latham. Jack is a flawed woman, and I love that she has to choose between the two men. I wanted to slap Jack's mother for bringing the ex-husband back into the picture because I really liked Latham from Whiskey Sour and the beginning part of Bloody Mary. I wanted to slap Jack's mother, actually.

'Tis a sign of well written characters when an author elicits the urge from me to slap characters around. They're alive in my head :)

I give this one 5 stars also. *****

Whiskey Sour by J.A. Konrath

2009-11-30T12:57:00.000-08:00

This book was good enough that I couldn't sit down to write a review of it until I also read the second and third books in the series: Bloody Mary and Rusty Nail. I asked for Bloody Mary as a Christmas gift last year. Just as I was sitting down to read it, I went to J.A. Konrath's website and realized I didn't have the first book in the series. So, it took me a few months go get off my rear end and buy the first book so I could read the second one.

I'm sure glad I did.

Whisky Sour is a mixture of wit, fast-paced action, and lovable characters. Even the characters who get under the protagonist's skin are characters I love to hate. Jack Daniels, the hero cop who solves crimes in the series, has a knack for solving murders using the help of characters she wants to avoid. Harry McGlade is one such character.

I also love Jack's partner, Herb Benedict. He compliments Jack's police skill well. I found myself wanting to give the guy a great, big, teddy-bear hug. He reminded me a little of Santa Claus with his love of food and his knack at being there for Jack.

The action scenes in Whisky Sour are nail biting, especially the scenes in which the killer, The Gingerbread Man, is inside Jack's apartment. I found myself checking my closets before going to bed after reading Whiskey Sour.

I give this one 5 stars *****. It had been awhile since I read funny hard-boiled fiction. The change was refreshing.

The Virgin's Knot by Holly Payne

2009-10-09T17:32:00.001-07:00

I listened to the audio book version of The Virgin's Knot by Holly Payne. Before I write anything else, I have one thing to say.

Wow.

Double wow.

If I had to lump this novel into a category, I'd categorize it as literary fiction, but it was so much more than the label can capture. Payne is a master with words. She paints a verbal picture so vivid in this book that I could taste, see, smell, hear, and feel the characters and setting of The Virgin's Knots.

The symbolism in the novel alone could take up volumes essays.

This was one novel that I'd listen to again in a heartbeat. I know I'd get more out of it upon a second listen. Payne has such a way with words, that if I was a betting woman (and I am btw), I'd wager she spoke every word aloud prior to committing it to the final draft of the manuscript. I don't know this for sure; I don't know the author, but I'd still make the wager. Every word seemed crafted.

The Virgin's Knot tells the story of a Turkish weaver named Nurdane. She is crippled by polio at a young age but grows into a woman famed for her weaving bridal prayer rugs. Set in Turkey and intermingling two separate brands of monotheism, I was enchanted by the novel. I give it five stars. *****

What I liked the most about Payne's novel is that I was able to believe in multiple truths. There was not only one correct way to view reality. There are multiple truths in the character's lives. I was enriched by reading this book.

Thicker Than Water by P.J. Parrish

2009-10-04T18:43:00.001-07:00

Thicker Than Water by P.J. Parrish was a delightful read. It was everything I look for in a good murder mystery. It is the fourth book in the Louis Kincaid series. I couldn't put my mass market paperback down. There was no stopping the pages turning. I had to find out what happened, who the killer was, and how the two cases connected.

Louis works as a P.I. and is hired to investigate the murder of which Jack Cade is accused of committing. Louis digs up a different murder, the original one in which Jack Cade was convicted of killing Kitty Jagger. After Jack Cade is released from prison, Cade's attorney, Duvall, is murdered. Jack Cade is the primary suspect. Ronnie Cade, Jack's son, hires Louis to investigate. The deeper Louis digs, the more complicated the original murder of Kitty Jagger becomes, and the more relevant it is to the murder of Duvall.

I think one of the biggest reasons I fell in love with Thicker Than Water was that it is set in the 80s. There is no CSI effect, no easy DNA evidence. Louis has to solve the mystery the old fashioned way. I like how murder mysteries and thrillers put the puzzle together piece by piece. There is a fair amount of sleuthing in the novel, and the reader is able to sleuth right along.

Another aspect of Thicker Than Water that made me smile over and over again was the love relationship between Louis and Jack Cade's new defense attorney. There is a love/hate relationship in which Benjamin (the attorney's son) plays the perfect role to bring the two together. I wasn't sure if the book would end with the two players on a positive or negative note. Unlike so many books, I wasn't sure if I wanted to root for them to hook up or to stay at a professional distance. I wasn't sure they would be good for each other, and the way they interacted with each other kept Thicker Than Water interesting.

Thicker Than Water also very much made me want to read the whole series. I read it in two days. I'm sure I'll be picking up the first book and falling in love with the rest.

I wouldn't have picked up Thicker Than Water from the bookshelf had I not known anything about the author P.J. Parrish. The author is a two sister writing team writing under a pseudonym. Both writers have made appearances at Killer Nashville. One of them critiqued the first ten pages of a manuscript I submitted in 2008.

Then, this past year at Killer Nashville 2009, I had the privilege of hearing half of the P.J. Parrish team during several panels. It was the writing advice during the panels this past August that ultimately caused me to buy Thicker Than Water. After listening to several discussions on the craft of writing, I realized upon reading Thicker Than Water how tight the writing is.

I didn't feel like any of the pages were wasted information, fluff, or an information dump. The pacing of Thicker Than Water was perfect for me as a reader. It was a quick read, but the action didn't go by so fast as to leave me confused or like I missed anything. The details were easy to keep tucked under my arm as I read from cover to cover.

The only thing I can think of as a criticism is that having the protagonist have the last name Kincaid while the man accused of murder have the last name of Cade and the son who hired Louis also have the last name of Cade, is that this is one to maybe read rather than listen to in audio book version while driving. To see in print, it was clear, but if I had been watching traffic and hearing Kincaid and Cade over and over again, the plot might have gotten a little confusing.

I give this one five stars. *****

Four Blind Mice by James Patterson

2009-10-04T18:28:00.000-07:00

Four Blind Mice by James Patterson is the eighth book in the Alex Cross Series. Like the other novels in Patterson's series, there are multiple murders and multiple killers. This time, the pieces are connected through the military, in particular veterans of the Vietnam War. Alex swears when he helps his friend, John Sampson, that this will be his last homicide investigation.

There are several reasons I gave this book five stars. *****. The first centers around John Sampson. I've waited during the last 7 books to get to know Sampson more intimately, and Patterson doesn't disappoint. He gives a depth to Sampson that I hope to continue to see in the rest of the novels in the series. He is a good side-kick type character who normally just supports Alex Cross. Sampson in many ways is the star of Four Blind Mice.

Another thing I really liked about Four Blind Mice was the motivation behind the villains. In a typical hard boiled novel, the murders are psychopathic creeps that a regular Joe wouldn't see much of himself/herself in. The killers in Four Blind Mice were all men who killed while in war. Some of them are able to move past their demons, and others breed darker demons after returning from Vietnam.

Nana Mama also plays a more pivotal role in Four Blind Mice than in some of the earlier novels in the series. Alex has to make some serious choices about his family life and how it intersects with his professional life. Kyle Craig also reappears in Four Blind Mice, though I very much got the impression that Kyle will reappear in future books as well.

Fantasy Lover by Sherrilyn Kenyon

2009-09-27T07:26:00.000-07:00

Fantasy Lover by Sherrilyn Kenyon is a paranormal romance. Before I review the novel, I want to tell a brief story about how and why I purchased Fantasy Lover, because it colors some of the things I have to say about the book.

I was at my local bookstore a few months ago, and my intention was to purchase one romance novel and one fantasy novel. I didn't have any particular author or series in mind. Standing in the romance section, I picked a different Sherrilyn Kenyon book from the shelf and began reading the back cover. There were several other women in the aisle with me, and one of them turned to me and said, "That's not the first book in the series. I've read all of Sherrilyn Kenyon's books." She picked out Fantasy Lover and said, "If you want to start from the beginning, you should read this one."

I wasn't sure I wanted to start at the beginning or not, but thought it might be best to follow the woman's advice so I wouldn't be confused by the book I had chosen. The result was that I purchased a book I wasn't 100% convinced was the book I really wanted to buy. Fantasy Lover looked interesting enough, so I brought it home and began reading.

I give Fantasy Lover 2 1/2 stars ** 1/2. I'll start with the things that made me knock it down to that level. Would I purchase this book over again? No. Did I enjoy reading it? Yes. It would be a library book if I had to read it over.

The first thing that annoyed me (and I'm sure wasn't within the author's control) was that the man on the front cover has dark hair. Julian in the book was a blond. As a result, I couldn't imagine the character properly while I was reading. I kept picturing dark brown hair and every time Kenyon referenced him as blond, I was jolted from my suspension of disbelief.

The second thing that irritated me about Fantasy Lover is that the perspective changed mid scene from Julian to Grace. It happened mostly in the first half of the book, but there were a few times in the second time as well. I was inside one character's head and then suddenly was trying to figure out why I was inside the other character's thoughts. The head hopping drove me crazy. Absolutely crazy.

Ok. On to the information about the book. Fantasy Lover follows the story of Grace and her friend Selena. Selena is convinced that Grace needs a man and to get intimate after being hurt by her last boyfriend, Paul, so she buys an ancient book and together they conjure up Julian, an ancient soldier and half son of the Greek gods, out of the book. There is a curse on Julian that he'll only be released for 30 days, and his job is to pleasure the woman who brought him out of the book, a little like rubbing a magic lamp and getting a genie to appear.

The idea is interesting, and compelled me to keep reading, only to find out that Grace is a sex therapist by profession.

I did a double take at this. Had she been a regular therapist, I would have rated the book much higher, maybe 3 1/2 stars or 4 stars. Her counseling patients is important to the plot, but I couldn't get past the idea that Selena would need to convince her to conjure up a Greek god from a book to be Grace's lover when the woman is a sex therapist. I presume that a sex therapist would be able to find a man on her own and would know when she was ready for one rather than allowing her friend to make the decision for her.

Ok, now for the things I liked about Fantasy Lover:

Kenyon does a nice job of weaving Greek Mythology into the novel in such a way that it is accessible to the modern reader. Although I have a B.A. in English Literature, I have to admit that I hated Greek Mythology in school, mostly because I couldn 't get the Roman names and the Greek names to sync in my head. Kenyon described the deities in such a way that I had a flood of knowledge come back to me regarding Athena, Aphrodite, etc.

Both Grace and Julian grow throughout the plot and redeem themselves multiple times. I found myself rooting for them to hook up at the end. Kenyon makes the happily ever after ending happen in a unique twist.

She also does a good job of revealing how and why Julian ended up cursed in the book. There is no information dump. She weaves the details throughout the plot.

I'll probably try another Sherrilyn Kenyon book again in the future, but won't listen to a random lady in the bookstore whom I don't know when I choose my next novel to read.

Pendragon Book One: The Merchant of Death by D.J. MacHale

2009-09-27T06:57:00.000-07:00

The Pendragon series is within the YA (Young Adult) genre, and Merchant of Death is the first book in a very successful series. After I finished listening to the audio book, I went to the Pendragon website and saw the immense reader reaction on the author's message boards. The nature of the series, fantasy/paranormal within YA, is very rich, and Machale's reader's have a sounding board for their opinions. One of the first threads I saw had over 33,000 threads. With that said, because I listened to the book rather than reading it, I apologize in advance if I misspell any of the words MacHale creates for his territories.

The Pendragon series follows Bobby, the protagonist, and his Uncle Press as they go through a floom to a territory. At first, I thought Pendragon and these territories were very similar to Stephan King and the Territories used in The Talisman. I found myself flipping back and forth between how King uses the Territories and comparing them to the Territories Bobby Pendragon finds himself in such as Second Earth and Denduron.

The farther into The Merchant of Death I read, the less similiar the Territories were to those King used in The Talisman. There are very different ways the characters go back and forth between the two realms. One other large difference is that King's character never meets a good guide character who is an adult. Bobby Pendragon has Uncle Press to explain and Osa to explain various properties of his new world of Denduron.

Overall, I give The Merchant of Death 4 stars ****. I don't read much YA fiction, but what struck me immediately was the clear voice of Bobby Pendragon vs. his friend Mark vs. the other characters within Denduron. I always knew exactly who was speaking and the character's points of view. The Merchand of Death was an enjoyable book for an adult, though I won't be reading the others in the series since YA isn't my favorite genre.

What kept me from giving it 5 stars was that Uncle Press had a lot of information that he withheld from Bobby Pendragon for apparently no reason. I couldn't quite reconcile the reasoning for why he showed up in the story and suddenly dragged Bobby into Denduron without any forewarning of how the whole process of being a traveler worked. Bobby makes a lot of mistakes that could have been avoided had Uncle Press been upfront with him in the beginning. It gave me the feeling that the adults were just being mean by withholding the information.

Violets are Blue by James Patterson

2009-09-26T15:51:00.001-07:00

Violets are Blue by James Patterson is the seventh book in the Alex Cross series. I couldn't wait to read this novel because at the end of Roses are Red, Patterson reveals the identity of the murder nicknamed The Mastermind. I couldn't believe the Mastermind's identity, and I knew I would find out for sure in Violets are Blue whether or not I had interpreted the last chapter of Roses are Red correctly.

The way in which the Mastermind is caught takes backseat during the majority of Violets are Blue while Alex Cross and a new female detective based out of California try to figure out the identity of a "real vampire" who murders several people by draining the victims' blood after biting their necks. I was a little surprised in the villain of Violets are Blue who ended up being the Sire. I thought the whole thing would turn out a lot differently than it actually did.

Nonetheless, I enjoyed this book a lot because I felt like I already knew a lot about the Mastermind before even picking the book up. He made a nasty villain, much better than the vampires that take up the majority of Violets are Blue. It was a nice change from the usual serial killers, though.

I give this book 4 stars **** The pacing is fast, just like the other James Patterson novels I've reviewed thus far. I couldn't wait to find out what happened the entire time I listened to it in the car on my commute to work.

A Darkness Forged in Fire by Chris Evans

2009-09-22T19:22:00.000-07:00

A Darkness Forged in Fire by Chris Evans is the first book in the Iron Elves Series. Konowa Swiftdragon is the protagonist who must go back to commanding an army. He previously killed the Viceroy and was therefore banished to live in the forest.

Konowa was part of the iron elves, who had been disbanded after he killed the Viceroy. As an Iron Elf, he fights both an internal and external battle against serving the Shadow Monarch. His father, a wizard, gives him an acorn from the Shadow Monarch's forest, and the power of the Shadow Monarch is drawn to him as he fights with his army.

Evans puts a little of everything that makes for a good novel into this book. There is a complicated love interest, Visyna Tekoy, and power struggles on mutliple levels. The Prince officially leads the army through battle, but he is incompetent, and Konowa must supplicate him while still making the kinds of decisions that will protect his regiment and keep him in a respectful position with them.

I was a little confused between the elves, the elfkynan, and the iron elves. I'm still not sure I understand the difference between the elfkynana and the regular elves. Perhaps I would find out in book two? I also loved the dwarf character and the minor character Alywn. I could see a whole series based on either of them as well. Rallie, the report/witch also made for an interesting character. The relationships between all of them were dynamic.

What drew me to give this 4 1/2 stars **** was the various levels upon which it could be read. It is a darker book than most I read, even more so than the murder mysteries I usually read. I felt like everyone and everything was doomed for most of the book. I couldn't see the happy ending at the end of the tunnel like I can for a lot of books.

I eagerly await the paperback release of book two.

Night Prey by John Sandford

2009-09-22T19:02:00.000-07:00

Night Prey by John Sandford is the sixth book in the Prey series featuring chief detective Lucas Davenport. In Night Prey, Davenport works with Meagan Connell, a State Bureau of Criminal Apprehension investigator. She is a feminist and has only a short amount of time before she will die of cancer. She is between treatments for most of the novel.

In the beginning of the novel, I had a hard time focusing on the characters because I kept waiting for Lucas Davenport's arrival. I already knew him from Chosen Prey, and I couldn't stay focused on the other characters like Rose Marie Roux.

I also had a hard time identifying with Robert Koop, the killer. I'm not sure that it was an reflection of the writing as much as my expectations based on Chosen Prey. It was more difficult for me to go backward to another book that was still in the middle of the series. I couldn't figure out how serious the relationship between Davenport and Weather (sp? I listened to the audio book) was. I knew they were living together, but they still didn't seem as serious as a lot of other characters from other novels I've read who live together. Lucas' feelings for the reporter confused me. His feelings weren't as clean as I would have liked them.

About halfway through Night Prey, the pieces all started coming together, and I couldn't put the book down. I thought it had a satisfying ending with a few interesting twists. Overall, I still recommend Night Prey, but I would have liked to have seen more character building of Koop and a little less of the minor characters. I'll probably read another in the series later on. Perhaps Sandford uses this book as a stepping stone for other books. I was pleased he kept Dale in the plot.

I give it 3 1/2 stars *** 1/2

Roses are Red by James Patterson

2009-09-07T18:39:00.000-07:00

Roses are Red by James Patterson is the sixth book in the Alex Cross Series. The villain in Roses are Red is named the Mastermind. Throughout the whole book, Patterson is consistent in using this term, both from Cross' perspective and from the villain's perspective. Just like Cassanova in Kiss the Girls, and Jack and Jill in Jack & Jill, I find using this type of a title intrigues me more as a reader rather than having the name of the killer right away.

The library didn't have this one on audio book, so I read the paperback. Like Cross (the first book I plucked out of the middle of the series, and the novel that got me hooked on Patterson's writing), Roses are Red was a quick, energetic read. I finished it in five days. I don't have the novel in front of me at the moment, but it was around 360 pages. Patterson tends to write very short chapters, sometimes only a page or two, so it wasn't nearly as dense as other 360 page novels. There is a lot of white space on the pages.

I began Roses are Red needing to find out what happens with Christine Johnson and her baby. I wanted to know for sure whether Cross was the father of if Geoffrey Shafer had raped her from The Weasel. I also wanted to know immediately after beginning the book how things end up. The Mastermind was very different from Patterson's other villains I've read thus far in that a lot of the killing isn't carried out by the Mastermind himself.

When I finally found out who the Mastermind truly is, I wished I had Violets are Blue (the next book in the series) because I was hungry for more. Much more. Patterson tells stories with excellent timing. I won't be happy until I've read Violets are Blue. I couldn't believe how Roses are Red ended. I practically salivated.

I also felt like I got to know Jannie and Damon, Cross' kids, a little better.

I give Roses are Red four and a half stars **** 1/2. The only thing keeping me from giving it five stars was that I felt like Cross spent as much time with his love interest as his children. I keep wanting to slap him in the face and tell him to spend a solid week at home with his kids. I suppose that wouldn't make for as entertaining a read, though!

World Without End by Ken Follett

2009-09-07T17:46:00.000-07:00

World Without End by Ken Follett is a delightful read. It is the second book that follows characters through their lives from childhood to adulthood in the town of Kingsbridge in England. I'm not sure I consider it a sequel to The Pillars of the Earth because none of the same characters are in this book (The setting is two centuries later), but it follows the same spirit as Pillars of the Earth.

Follett is a master at not only character building but building things like setting though the actions of his characters. Like Pillars of the Earth, a lot of the book follows architecture, though this time it follows a tower and a bridge more than the cathedral itself. Like Pillars of the Earth, I'm not sure that I can distinguish one protagonist. There are several main characters to World without End, and each is given his/her own importance. If I had to choose a protagonist, I think the character of Caris stands out the most in my mind.

Then there is the love of her life, Merthin Builder. Merthin is the brother of another major character and villain, Ralph. Ralph and Merthin were born into the nobility in the beginning of the novel, and it takes nearly the whole 1000 pages for them to enter back into the nobility from the merchant and peasant classes.

It took me eight months to read World Without End. Unlike Pillars of the Earth, I didn't have a convenient break (I had three weeks off of work in which I read Pillars of the Earth over my Christmas vacation) to read in a large chunk. During the beginning of World Without End, I had a hard time distinguishing between several different characters, partly because many of them have names that begin with the same letter. There are Gwenda and Griselda, Ralph and Roland, Mother Cecilia and Caris, etc.. For that reason, it took me nearly six months to read the first five hundred pages, and only one month to read the second five hundred pages.

I give World Without End five Stars ***** because I was gripped during the second half. Many times while reading both Follett's novels, I wondered if these two works would have been better suited to being an entire series rather than 1000 page novels. I'm not sure the reading experience would have been the same had Follett broken them into several shorter novels because the lives of the characters are totally interconnected.

Had Follett focused on one character for 300-400 pages and then gone on to another character, I think the odds of becoming bored with the plot would have been higher because as soon as a character like Ralph took an action, it spread to the peasants like Wulfric and Gwenda, Annette, or Maude and Gerald.

A history buff, I always look for places authors might have made mistakes. I only found one thing that made my head turn, and it was a very slight detail. I'm not going to mention it here because I haven't researched it, so I might still be mistaken.

For anyone considering reading World Without End, I caution you to read the entire novel before forming judgement on the work. There were a few places where I wanted to through my book against the wall. I won't include any spoilers here, but I will mention that in my opinion, there are many happy endings for the characters. It just takes 1000 pages to get to them. There are many times when things seem hopeless or seemingly hopeless, especially for Merthin and Caris, but I was more than satisfied with how the novel ends.

My Lobotomy by Howard Dully and Charles Fleming

2009-09-03T18:39:00.001-07:00

My Lobotomy by Howard Dully and Charles Fleming is a memoir of Howard Dully's experience as a child. At the age of twelve, he underwent an "ice-pick lobotomy" performed by Dr. Walter Freeman. The book follows his life as a child, early adulthood, and into his present day life. It is a New York Times Bestseller, and NPR has done a radio show on Howard Dully's life. NPR's radio show is what set the ball rolling for Howard Dully to write his life story.

I read My Lobotomy in four days (along with the other books I read. I never have one book at a time). I purchased my trade paperback copy. It is 286 pages long. The type was a little small, but doable. I found myself wishing I'd been listening to an audio book of the author telling his story in his own words with his own voice.

The reason I originally purchased the memoir was that someone I love dearly has had a right temporal lobectomy. I misread lobectomy for lobotomy. They are very different things. After I realized my error, I was confused (this was before reading the book) because I thought lobotomies were when the entire brain was removed.

An "ice pick lobotomy" as performed by Dr. Freeman on Howard Dully reminds me of something out of a horror movie. After receiving electroshock treatment, Dr. Freeman stuck ice picks into the back of the author's eye sockets and into Howard Dully's brain. The ice pick was moved around in the author's brain until the doctor felt he had separated various parts of the brain from other parts.

A lot of patients of Dr. Freeman, according to Dully, ended up dead or severely mentally damaged and unable to function within society. He survived the procedure and ended up being a very productive citizen to society, but not without a lot of hurdles, stumbles, and trials.

Beyond the physical recovery, Dully had to endure a step mother who basically hated him, a father who wouldn't allow Dully to live with him afterward, and survival without having been taught the skills to function as a contributor rather than a taker from society.

I give this book 5 stars ***** for several reasons. First and foremost, this a story of human triumph over incredible odds, told in the words of an everyday person. The writing is down to earth and on the reader's level. Although I've never suffered the kind of trauma Dully endured, I identify with his quest to find out why the procedure took place, how his father could allow it to happen, and what he had done to deserve being as less than human.

There are many stories of human triumph that exist in written form, but what drew me to keep reading My Lobotomy feverishly was the sincerity of the prose. I could feel that Dully learned about himself, his family, and life in the process of writing the book. What more could an author want from his/her writing than that? I found myself reflecting on some of the bigger questions of life as a result of reading it.

Yet, I felt like I could walk up to Dully in the grocery store, and I wouldn't think he was out of the ordinary. I'd probably not notice him and pass him by without much thought. My Lobotomy reminded me that there are many people around me who are gifts based on their personal experiences and the choices they've made to become good people.

Pop Goes the Weasel by James Patterson

2009-09-03T18:23:00.000-07:00

Pop Goes the Weasel by James Patterson is the fifth book in Patterson's Alex Cross series. I listened to the unabridged audio book version of this novel. One thing that struck me as difficult to get used to was that there was a different narrator for this book than Cat and Mouse and Jack & Jill. Unlike both those novels, not only was narrator a different man, but there was only one person reading the story. I had gotten used to hearing two different male voices, one for Alex Cross speaking in first person and one for Geoffrey Shafer in third person.

I had to pay more attention to the details as I was driving and listening since I couldn't space off for a minute in traffic and return to what was happening in the novel as easily. The end result was that I gathered more details of Patterson's writing.

I rate Pop Goes the Weasel 4 stars ****. I needed to find out the ending to this one, especially what happened with Christine Johnson, Alex's love interest.

I didn't identify with Shafer as much as I did with Along Came a Spider, but I liked him better than the killers in Jack & Jill and Cat and Mouse. There was a good mix of mystery behind who he really was, but yet there were a few actions Shafer took that made me shake my head. Even for a deranged lunatic killer, Shafer did a few things that I wouldn't think were realistic. I was able to suspend my disbelief because Shafer viewed everything as part of a larger game rather than acting out of emotion.

The last handful of chapters were the most exciting. I was riveted at the end, and had to pick up the next book in the series, Roses are Red. The library doesn't have an audio book version of the next book, so I'll go back to reading Patterson rather than listening to him. I've been buying so many books lately that I would rather read this next one anyway.

Cat and Mouse by James Patterson

2009-08-30T19:08:00.000-07:00

Cat and Mouse by James Patterson is the fourth book in the Alex Cross series. I listened to the unabridged version on audio book. Like many of the other Alex Cross novels, Patterson alternates between first person and third person. There are also two separate killers. Alex and Samson have to find them both.

Gary Soneji from Along Came a Spider returns in Cat and Mouse. As I mentioned in my post about Along Came a Spider, I listed to an abridged version of Along Came a Spider, so maybe the next comment is a little biased, but I felt like Soneji was a totally different character in Cat and Mouse. I liked Soneji in Along Came a Spider, and even kind of rooted for him. He was much more fatalistic in Cat and Mouse. I felt like Soneji was a flat character this time around.

There is another detective named Thomas Pierce who makes an appearance in Cat and Mouse. There are even some chapters in first person through Thomas' perspective. This jarred me because I was completely used to the pattern of first person being reserved for Alex's voice only in Along Came a Spider, Kiss the Girls, Jack & Jill, and Cross. The break with the pattern took me awhile to get used to.

One thing that I did like about Cat and Mouse, and just about the only thing that helped me rate it as 3 stars rather than 2 1/2 stars was that I got to know Sampson better. Maybe Patterson does it later in the series, but I'd like for a whole book to be in Sampson's voice. I like Sampson as much as I do Alex Cross. I smile every time he calls Alex, "Sugar."

The twists in this book just didn't cut it for me. Without having a spoiler, I'll just say that when Thomas Pierce gets involved beyond the Mr. Pierce murder case investigating with Sampson, Patterson lost me. Had this been the first book I'd plucked out of the series, I wouldn't have read or listened to any more. Luckily, I was already hooked from the other books so far in the series.

Jack and Jill by James Patterson

2009-08-23T10:06:00.000-07:00

I listened to an unabridged audio book version of Jack & Jill by James Patterson. Finally, I had the whole story again and wasn't listening to an abridgement. Jack & Jill is another Alex Cross novel, and is the third book in the series. Alex and Sampson try to catch the cold blooded killers, Jack and Jill before they kill the president of the United States. They first kill several other high profile people, and they announce ahead of the fact that they intend to kill the president.

Jack and Jill are given different identities throughout the book. They are known as Jack and Jill to the police and FBI, but the real name of Jill is given early on. Jack's true identity isn't revealed until late in the novel. In some ways, it was a good scheme, and makes for a page turner because the reader wants to know who Jack and Jill really are.

On the other hand, I found myself a little confused throughout the book because there are so many names for some of the same people, including another killer who kills young children in who go to the same school as Alex's son, Damon. Maybe I would have had an easier time keeping all the characters straight if I had been reading Jack and Jill as opposed to listening to it while I drove to and from work, but I'm not one hundred percent sure.

I wasn't as thrilled about Jack and Jill as I had been about Cross, Along Came a Spider, and Kiss the Girls. I think it was because a lot of the killing Jack and Jill did was more a political move rather than something tied to their insanity or their emotions. Killing for hire type of schemes aren't as interesting to me as ones tied to emotions. Alex's emotions carry the book, and for that reason I still enjoyed Jack and Jill, but it won't be a book that I would reread or ever buy. I listened to the library's copy of this one.

I give this one 3 stars. ***

That doesn't mean that I'm totally disenchanted with the Alex Cross series. I went ahead and listened to Cat and Mouse right after finishing this one.

Vision in Blue by Nicole Byrd

2009-08-23T09:23:00.000-07:00

Vision in Blue by Nicole Byrd is a regency romance. Byrd writes a few different series but with characters who weave in and out of the series and have different relationships with each other. The novel follows the story of Miss Gemma Smith and her friend Miss Louisa Crookshank. Gemma spends most of the book trying to find her parentage.

Gemma was sent to a foundling home as a young child. After a year in the foundling home, she was taken to a school for gentlewomen and given financial support through a solicitor. When Gemma turns twenty one, she receives a letter from her mother through the solicitor telling her that she has a brother named Lord Gabriel Sinclair in London. Gemma travels to London to seek out her family. Along the way, she meets Louisa, who is engaged to Mr. Lucas Englewood. Gemma stays with Louisa in her rented home in London.

At first, I had a difficult time getting into this book because I'm not accustomed to reading historical romance. The pacing is a lot slower than the books I'm used to reading, and I was bored. I was determined to read the entire novel, though, because I got to hear Nicole Byrd speak at Music City Romance Writers. I also knew several people who had read Byrd's work and loved it.

I continued reading. Once I got halfway through, I was hooked. For a proper and ladylike book, this one through me for a loop in the second half. There was a lot of suspense later on, and I couldn't put the book down until I had finished it. I may end up reading the whole series, but I haven't made up my mind yet. Like a few of my other posts, I've plucked this book out of the middle of a series. It was very much self contained, and I didn't feel like I was missing out by not having read the books that came before it in the series, but I'm now curious about some of the other characters that are the protagonists in the other books earlier and later in the series.

I got to the end knowing who Gemma's mother was, but the novel ended with the question of who her father was. I'm curious now.

I give this book four stars ****

Along Came a Spider by James Patterson

2009-08-23T09:08:00.000-07:00

Along Came a Spider by James Patterson is the first book in the Alex Cross series. If you've been reading my blogs posts so far, you know that I'm blogging a little out of order with these books. I listened to the audio book version of of Along Came a Spider. Like Kiss the Girls, I didn't realize this was an abridged version until after it came in the mail. *sigh* My review is based on the cassettes, not of the complete, unabridged version. I wished I had read the book instead.

Along Came a Spider came on four audio cassettes. Although the abridgement was better than Kiss the Girls, I think I missed about half the plot. There were a few times when I wondered how Alex Cross, Sampson, and the villain Gary Soneji. Gary Soneji kidnaps two children, and Alex works on another case from the projects at the same time. I identified with the villain in Along Came a Spider, and there was a piece of me that wanted Gary Soneji to succeed. Patterson does a good job of writing the bad guy to be likable in certain respects. I can't pinpoint what I liked a bout Gary Soneji in particular, but I rooted for him to get away.

Along Came a Spider contained a few plot twists that I didn't like. I'm not at all for spoilers, so I won't mention what turned me off exactly. I'll only say that in this abridged version there were things I didn't see coming that didn't have any warning at all. Given how Patterson tells his story in the books versus the abridgements, I think those plot twists wouldn't have come out of thin air quite to the extent that they did in the abridgement.

I give this one three stars *** based on the abridgement. I still recommend it, and I'm going to rent the movie.

What Looks Like Crazy by Charlotte Hughes

2009-07-26T09:54:00.000-07:00

What Looks Like Crazy by Charlotte Hughes was a fun read. I give it three and a half stars. *** 1/2.

I think the first paragraph of What Looks Like Crazy was one of the best paragraphs I've ever read in a book. I was hooked right away. What Looks Like Crazy follows the professional life of Dr. Kate Holly as well as her love life. She is a psychologist and has a lot of crazy patients. Her secretary/friend Mona is a trip, and her family is hilarious. This was a light read which kept me smiling throughout.

What keeps me from giving it a little higher rating is that the characters were funny, but some of them were a little too out there for me. In particular, I couldn't find much affection for Thad's character. He is another doctor and is a former lover and friend of Dr. Holly's. I expect the patients to be a little nutty but Thad's behavior, especially with his brother Thomas is a little too much for me. It was cute at first but annoyed me the further into the novel I read.

It took me about two weeks to read this book, but the reason had nothing to do with the pacing of Hughes' writing. I used this one as my book to read during lunch when I had free time at work. It's only 261 as mass market paperback, so it was easy to keep in my purse and to carry with me.

There is a sequel titled, "Nutcase," but I don't think I'm going to read it. I enjoyed the plot and characters, but not enough to invest myself in another novel.

Kiss the Girls by James Patterson

2009-07-26T07:32:00.000-07:00

Kiss the Girls by James Patterson is the second book in the Alex Cross series by James Patterson. I listened to the audio book version of Kiss the Girls. When it arrived in the mail, I received two cassette tapes, which took me two days to listen to while driving to and from work. From the beginning, the I was swept into the plot of this thriller because I already felt like I knew Alex Cross and because Patterson is an expert story teller.

Unfortunately, I was thoroughly disappointed with how Kiss the Girls was abridged. When ordering the audio book copy, I didn't realize I was buying an abridged copy. In my opinion, abridged versions of thrillers should be illegal because I felt cheated at the end. I'm pretty sure I know where the gaps in the story were because I felt jolted when suddenly Alex Cross and Sampson find the underground "House of Horrors."

Abridged version aside, I think I would have given the unabridged version five stars. I found myself wanting to drive around just to hear more of the audio book while in my car. Also, Time Warner Studios chose two different narrators. The voice of Alex Cross was very different from the other person reading the rest of the book. There were other sound effects adding to the drama of Alex's race to find his niece, Naomi.

Why did I choose to listen to Kiss the Girls before Along Came a Spider? Kiss the Girls arrived before Along Came a Spider did through the mail. Like Cross (see my earlier review), I felt this plot was self contained and didn't leave me confused by not having read Along Came a Spider first.

Cross by James Patterson

2009-07-26T07:18:00.000-07:00

Cross by James Patterson was a delightful read. I give it five stars *****. Cross is the 12th book in James Patterson's Cross series. I read the mass paperback version and was enthralled from start to finish. I read it under two days. It was so good that I immediate went out and bought books one and two of the series, Along Came a Spider and Kiss the Girls.

This book had several things going for it. I appreciate Patterson's use of short, straightforward sentences during scenes in which a lot of action occurs. He writes using short chapters. Many of the chapters were two or three pages long. I love this in a murder mystery because it adds to the, "I'll just read one more chapter before going to sleep" mentality of the reader. Patterson alternates in this series between first person narrative for Alex Cross' chapters and third person narrative for the chapters in which the killer is present.

From the sell copy of Cross, we learn that Alex Cross' wife is murdered in this book, and Alex has to find her killer. Wow. That alone drew me into buying the novel. As I mentioned, I plucked this novel from the middle of a series, and I wasn't in the least confused by what was going on. Cross is a self contained book, and I didn't feel cheated by not reading the preceeding books in the series.

Also, a lot of action happens in Cross. It was paced as excellently written thriller.

Crossing Over: One Woman's Exodus from Amish Life by Ruth Irene Garrett with Rick Farrant

2009-07-05T13:24:00.001-07:00

Crossing Over: One Woman's Exodus from Amish Life by Ruth Irene Garrett with Rick Farrant is nonfiction. As such, I'm going to review it a little differently than I have the fiction works. Especially in the case of an autobiography, I think there have to be slightly different rules to measure a person's story. Unlike fiction, nonfiction writers don't change the details of the story just to make the plot more coherent or parallel.

With that said, I give Crossing Over four stars **** because it was a fascinating read. The style in which it is written is simple and to the point. I read the book in less than two days. At 190 pages, it wasn't a long book, but it was a good one. The inclusion of bits and pieces of the letters Garrett's parents wrote to her after she left the Old Order Amish community in Kalona, Iowa made the book even more personal than it already was.

I can't imagine the emotional turmoil Garrett had to go through in order to join outside society. To lose one's family and to have to start from scratch in learning how to live life in modern society must have been an utter shock for her. I learned a lot from this book, and I was especially pleased to read a first person account of the author's life after leaving the Amish because I feel too many times the Amish are romanticized in literature and in modern society in general. Garrett paints a picture of realism.

One of the things that made me stop and think after reading the book was that she didn't have many photographs by which to remember her childhood and family. There are so many things I take for granted in modern life that I can't fathom not having photographs of my family from years ago.

I think the thing that cemented Crossing Over at 4 stars for me is that the story itself and the way it was told was compelling. I felt like I knew the author as I was flipping through the pages. There aren't many books that come across so clearly for me.

And yes, I'm on an Amish kick right now.

Looking for a Miracle: Brides of Lancaster County Book 2 by Wanda E. Brunstetter

2009-06-28T08:56:00.000-07:00

Looking for a Miracle is a novel about an Amish woman in Lancaster County, PA named Rebekah Stoltzfus. Rebekah was paralyzed in a freak accident when she was a child, and as a result she is wheelchair bound. Looking for a Miracle takes Rekekah's point of view, her suitor's point of view (Daniel) and her sister, Nadine's, point of view. Rebekah must deal with her disability with relation to growing into a self-sufficient woman and how that relates to love and marriage.

I listened to the audio book version. I give this book three stars. *** I enjoyed the story and would listen to it again if given the chance, but I found myself a little frustrated by it at the same time. Looking for a Miracle is what I would call a "sweet romance." I expected it to be pretty chaste, which it was. What frustrated me about the novel were some of the same things that I also liked about it.

The biggest thing that irritated me was that the characters were a little too realistic. Nadine was constantly whining about how Rebekah got to do things she wasn't allowed to do. Rebekah was constantly focusing on the limitations her disability posed. Though very realistic teenage behavior and behavior for someone learning to cope with a disability, I felt like I wanted to give both characters a good talking to, slap them in the face, and just tell them to deal with it. Nadine's character in particular was very realistic in her self centeredness, but it got old page after page. I wanted to suspend my disbelief a little more. Brunstetter's constant use of showing the readers these two character's thoughts annoyed me. It's bad enough to hear a teenager constantly whine in real life about her siblings, but to hear their thoughts was a little much for me.

But it was realistic...

One thing that kept me engaged in the plot was that Brunstetter did an excellent job of dropping just enough Pennsylvania Dutch into all the character's speech to remind me that in real life these characters would be using very little English amongst themselves. Brunstetter uses a lot of Pennsylvania Dutch to English cognates, which greatly added to their characterization. I found myself looking for some print books about the Amish just to see how some of these words were spelled.

Another thing I liked about Looking for a Miracle is that Brunstetter's characters aren't romanticized to the point of being flat. It's easy to pigeonhole the Amish into an idea of what they should be like, but Brunstetter's writing shows the common humanity these characters have. The Amish get angry, irritated, lazy, sad, etc. just like others. I think Looking for a Miracle's best feature as a novel was Brunstetter's ability humanize the characters into people I'd like to know if I could meet them even though this was a work of fiction.

One thing that I would have liked to have addressed a little more in the book was what Amish group was fictionalized. Was this Old Order Amish? Beechy Amish? Etc.? As I choose book 2 to listen to and review, perhaps the answer is in Book 1 and I need to read book 1. I have a knack for picking books up the middle of a series. Other than the specific Amish group, choosing book 2 was very easy to understand the plot. This wasn't a novel in which not reading book 1 detracted from the story as I plucked this one from the middle of a series.

Brunstetter also does a good job describing the way of life the characters have established. I could picture all the gas powered items, the farm, the singings, etc.

I think the other thing keeping me from rating this book higher than 3 stars was the pacing. It was fitting that the pacing of the plot was slow; The Amish have a slow pace of doing things. I just wasn't used to taking 6 1/2 hours to listen to a storyline I could have summarized in three sentences. Perhaps I should read more sweet romance before being as harsh, but oh well. I did enjoy the novel, though.

Brunstetter surely didn't have any control over the last thing that made me rank the book lower, but I have to write about it. I listened to the audio book without seeing the cover. Library audio books are sometimes that way. When I finished Looking for a Miracle and looked the title up on Amazon to link to this page, I was disappointed because the book version has the characters' faces on the cover. The Amish don't like themselves portrayed with their faces showing. The publisher surely knows it. I know that Brunstetter knows it because her web page tactfully leaves the faces obscured with the images portrayed.

Chosen Prey by John Sandford

2009-06-14T10:00:00.000-07:00

Chosen Prey by John Sandford is the 13th book in John Sandford's Prey series. John Sandford is the pen name of John Roswell Camp. He is originally from Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Oddly enough, I didn't know this when I chose to read/listen to Chosen Prey. I have to root for my fellow native Iowans.

In Chosen Prey, The police chief, Lucas Davenport, hunts a serial killer named James Qatar. I'm not including any spoilers in this review, so I'm not going to get into a lot of detail about killings other than to say Sandford establishes very early in the book that Qatar is the killer. It's up to Davenport and his team of investigators to find him before he kills again.

Overall I enjoyed Chosen Prey very much. It was a page turner, and although I knew who the killer was, I was on the edge of my seat while reading/listening to the audio book version of the novel. Sandford does a good job of creating realistic characters and building tension from scene to scene and chapter to chapter. I even found myself identifying with Qatar at times. It's a rare quality to identify with a serial killer when I read. I think that's why I was so drawn in. I almost didn't want him to be caught.

I give this book three and a half stars. *** 1/2. There were more aspects I liked than didn't like, but a few things about Chosen Prey really bothered me too. One of those things wasn't within Sandford's control. The audio book version I used had an author interview at the end lasting nearly 40 minutes. When Chosen Prey ended, I was expecting another 40 minutes of story. Had I read the book version this wouldn't have been a problem. As it was, however, I felt cheated that the novel ended when it did. I kept waiting for one more plot twist, and suddenly the whole thing was over.

Marshall, Davenport, Lucas, and Qatar were finely crafted characters. Dell, Marcey, and Weather were harder for me to get to know. Their personalities and actions were important to the plot, but I didn't feel like I related with any of them. I think part of this was because Weather's last name was used. I wasn't sure if Dell was the investigator's first or last name. Marcey felt like a secretary to me rather than a cop. Her role worked with the plot, but I felt like a whole can of worms was opened that wasn't able to be resolved. I wanted to know if she went back to more in depth police work.

Perhaps part of my problem was choosing the 13th book in the series rather than book number one. Overall I was still able to enjoy the novel on its own merits without having to have read the preceding 12 novels, but my favorite kind of series as a reader is one in which I can pluck a book out of the middle and not have a lot of loose strings.

My other issue was that Qatar's bag of bloody clothes isn't really tidied up. Lucas Davenport spends a lot of time looking for it, and the bag with the clothes isn't really a closed issue at the end of Chosen Prey.

I did manage to listen to 13 hours of audio in 3 days, so I was pretty sucked into the plot. I would have given this one 4 stars if the bloody clothes would have been better addressed. Maybe I just need to read book 14?

Absence of Nectar by Kathy Hepinstall

2009-06-08T17:52:00.000-07:00

Absence of Nectar by Kathy Hepinstall was a delightful book. Hepinstall weaved several stories into Absence of Nectar, all of which could have stood on their own and been interesting without the other subplots. Alice, the narrator, tells the story in a way that is both easy to understand but is also believable. Telling the story through the eyes of an eleven year old I think added to the genius of the book because Alice's perception of the events was a lot different than it would have been had her brother, Boone, been the narrator. It wasn't until the end of the book that I really started to think of the events more as Boone's story than Alice's. I think the case could be made that either of the two children could have been the main character.

I listened to Absence of Nectar on audio book, and I was glad that I did. Hepinstall's language throughout the book felt poetic in its rhythm. I definitely wouldn't classify it as a prose poem, but the rhythm of the words on the page helped me to stay interested in the plot. I listen to a lot of audio books, and very few achieve this quality.

I found myself liking all the characters in Absence of Nectar except for Simon Jester. I don't want to spoil the plot, but I will say that Hepinstall's writing makes it easy to hate some of the characters I ultimately ended up liking. There was enough room for redemption to keep them from becoming flat on the page.

Although I enjoyed Absence of Nectar, I'm not sure how I categorize it. I've seen it listed as a thriller when looking up information online. I don't agree that it's a thriller per se, but I'm not sure it's genre fiction at all. There's a little bit of everything in the book. Death, life, romance, tragedy, etc. I think contemporary fiction is probably the best label for it. There's a universal quality to the plot that makes me think readers of many different types of fiction would enjoy reading Hepinstall's work.

I give Absence of Nectar four stars. **** Without a doubt, I recommend the book.

There were a few things that bothered me about the plot that keep me from giving it five stars. First and foremost, I found myself wondering why Boone was so religious/spiritual. Alice gives details over and over again on her take on her pagan gods and her own sacrifices to them to keep her family safe from Simon Jester, but ultimately Boone is more spiritual than she is. He's always talking about God and so forth, but there's never really an explanation for why. Did he have a conversion experience? There isn't anything particularly useful by way of exposition that would suggest Alice and Boone's parents were spiritual or even took the kids to church or made them read the Bible. Yet, Boone borders at times on being a religious fanatic during certain parts of the novel. I don't know many people who were that way as kids without either the parents being pretty zealous or the kid having some huge experience causing him to talk about God all the time.

At one point, Alice and Boone are in a Catholic church and Alice describes the church in enough detail to make me think that either Hepinstall intended the kids to be Catholic or she stepped out of Alice's perspective for a few pages to add detail regarding their setting. Other parts of the story would suggest the kids weren't Catholic, though. The biggest two things were that both Alice and Boone's mother and father divorced and remarried.

Given the vast detail and length (it took over 10 hours on audio book to listen to the unabridged version) these are somewhat minor things I'm criticizing. Even with those questions lingering, I finished Absence of Nectar in 3 days.

Touched by Venom: Book One of the Dragon Temple Saga by Janine Cross

2009-05-10T09:21:00.000-07:00

Before I get into the meat and bones of Touched by Venom, I want to preface the review by saying I'm a new reader to the fantasy genre, with this book being the first full length, non-erotica fantasy novel I've ever read. For those who are loyal fantasy readers, you may want to skim past a few of my comments because I'm a newbie, and my background in picturing new worlds is somewhat blossoming as a reader. Ok, on the review...

Touched by Venom was an excellent read. I highly recommend it to both new readers of fantasy and those who devour fantasy books like chocolate. Cross weaves the details of the world she creates into the story with skill, and she keeps Zarq, the protagonist, involved in a lot of action throughout. I was compelled to keep reading, even when I didn't understand what was actually happening, because Cross left me with the trust that eventually I'd understand and the pieces would fit together. She delivers on the promise. Her imagery is vivid and her characters complex.

At first I was jarred by all the new vocabulary and trying to keep the meaning of everything straight, but after a chapter or two I was able to cope with it. Her world is consistent and the magic understandable. I wouldn't consider this a work of erotica, but I was impressed by how well Cross pulls off some of the more adult scenes in the work. She doesn't carry them too far, which would have been easy to do given the scope of scenes, especially those involving the dragons and sexuality.

The only part that I would change if this was my novel (which it's obviously not) is that Waivia and the mother character's relationship seemed like back story during almost the entire novel. I would have liked to have seen a little more of their relationship prior to when Waivia is taken away. It would have made some of the later scenes more realistic to me.

I know the author has nothing to do with the pricing of the work, but I was pleasantly pleased with the $6.99 price in US dollars. The cover is intriguing, which is what initially led me to make the purchase. I had never heard of Cross prior to my trip to Barnes and Noble, but I was determined to leave the story with a work of fantasy. It's one of the cheaper reads I've had in awhile of books I've purchased first hand in soft cover. Given the amount of bang for the buck, I give this one five stars. ***** After I finish my stack of books to read, I'll definitely be purchasing the next book in the series, Shadowed by Wings. When I turned the page to the last page of Touched by Venom, I wanted more story. Cross does a good job of making this book a page turner, right up to the end.

Firmin by Sam Savage

2009-04-11T18:30:00.000-07:00

What initially drew me to purchase Firmin was the unique shape of the book. I have trouble browsing physical books in a bookstore without buying anything. When my fingers found the large bite mark that was taken out of the side of the trade paperback, I knew I had to buy it. Any company that would publish a book about a rat and then take a bite out of the book as if a rat had been chewing on it, had a good marketing team. Coffee House Press knew what it was doing.

Savage's character, Firmin, is both funny and likable. He has a witty/dry sense of humor as he relates his tale of living in Pembroke Books and eating the pages of the many books. This is how Firmin learns to read. I identified with Firmin from the get go, especially when he told of how he was the odd rat out when it came to nursing as a baby rat. His mother birthed one more rat than she had nipples, which led to Firmin's runt status in the litter.

I won't give away more of the plot, but I will say that although there are illustrations in the book and the bite out of the side were cute, I wouldn't recommend assuming that Firmin is a children's book. There are a lot of very adult topics covered, not the least of which that Firmin finds a good deal of food from the floor of a movie theater that shows porn flicks after the regular crowd of movie goers has left for the day. With that said, Firmin is not an erotica work by any means, but I wouldn't just hand the book to a ten year old.

I give Firmin 3 and a half stars.

What holds me back from giving it a higher rating was the price. The list price I paid was $12.00 for a 165 page book. The other thing holding me back from giving it a higher rating is that Firmin's character is hard to really get into at first. He uses a lot of academic words (because he read/ate all the books in Pembroke Bookstore). Compared to later chapters, the beginning is a little hard to follow if the reader hasn't read all of the books referenced. For a story about a rat, the language could have been toned down a little in the beginning when the reader needs to be hooked.

For images of Firmin, check out:

http://www.amazon.com/Firmin-Sam-Savage/dp/0385342659/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1239499798&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.com/Firmin-Adventures-Metropolitan-Sam-Savage/dp/1566891817/ref=sr_oe_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1239499798&sr=1-1

I was unable to find a website or blog for Sam Savage to include in my sidebar. If you happen to know of one, please either email me at jenredkissed[at]gmail[dot]com or add a comment to this posting.

~Jen

A Rage To Kill: And Other True Cases by Ann Rule

2009-03-07T08:07:00.000-08:00

A Rage To Kill is volume six in Ann Rule's Crime Files series. I haven't read any of the other books in the series and the lack of reading them didn't affect my understanding of this book. It's one of the joys of picking up a random non-fiction book to read and then review. A Rage to Kill is the first of Ann Rule's books I've ever read.

Before I discuss the content between the covers of this work, I want to comment on a few stylistic things I liked about Ann Rule's writing. First and foremost, her writing is concise, clear, and achieves the feat of seeming both plain spoken and yet sophisticated. She writes each true crime story in a way that left me feeling for the victim and the victim's family while yet sparking my curiosity about each of the killers.

Another nice thing about A Rage To Kill Was that I began reading it while I still lived in Iowa. I finished reading about one of the cases and then began the task of packing up all of my belongings for an interstate move to Tennessee. Four months went by before I found my mass market paperback to resume reading. I was able to pick up on a new case without any problems rather than having to reread in order to understand what I was consuming.

I have a fascination with murder cases and mystery fiction, so my interest in Ann Rule's book was high from the beginning. Another refreshing aspect of A Rage To Kill was that most of the individual killers were caught through good, old fashioned police work or mistakes made by the killers. There was a lack of the CSI effect to which modern police and attorneys refer. The public has grown to except a dramatic piece of DNA evidence that will solve a case in a matter of a few minutes or days. In reality, most cases don't have DNA evidence back and processed for several months and many times the DNA evidence simply isn't present or usable in real cases.

Rule included ten different murderers, ranging from a man who killed a bus full of people to people who killed their victims one person at a time. The story that most grabbed my attention and actually kept me awake for a few nights while I processed the information I had read earlier in the day was the spree killer, Christopher Wilder. I had never heard of spree killers before and was haunted by Wilder's actions. He not only murdered and tortured his victims, but he seemingly felt no remorse and preyed upon beautiful women in shopping malls and other public places. My false sense of security in public places was stripped from me as I read through his deeds. I live less than a two minute drive from a large shopping mall, and I couldn't help but imagine something similar occurring practically under my nose. Some of the things he did to the women he tortured will never be erased from my memory from reading Rule's book. Wilder's deeds were utterly disturbing.

I recommend this book and give it four stars, ****. The only thing holding me back from giving it a fifth star is that some of the cases were a bit outdated. The copyright is 1999 and many of the cases are a few decades old. I personally was still intrigued, but without a cold case type of story, cases that are from the 60s, 70s, and 80s, could be a turn off to some readers.

The Book of Useless Information by Noel Botham & The Useless Information Society

2009-02-04T10:18:00.000-08:00

I'll start by saying I couldn't find a web page for Noel Botham. If you would like to see the cover for this book, go to http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Book-of-Useless-Information/Noel-Botham/e/9780399532696/?itm=2. I also was unable to find an official website for The Useless Information Society. Everything within both google searches brought up the books by the aforementioned society and Noel Botham.

The Book of Useless Information is first book in a series that has been published by Noel Botham & The Useless Information Society. This one was another airport purchase for me. I would recommend it for a flight or long layover as every page of this 286 page book contains random facts. Most of the information presented are the types of bits of info that are probably useless enough to never end up in a trivia game, but most of the tidbits are funny or raised my eyebrow when I read them.

What drew me to first browse through this title before buying it was the picture of the squirrel on the front cover. All of the titles in the series, at least that I've seen, have a squirrel on the front. The entire time I spent flipping through its pages, I kept wondering if there were going to be citations anywhere. There weren't footnotes or references at the end. Skeptic that I am, my first impulse was to know the source of all the facts. If there had been citations, I would have given this book five stars for its entertainment value. There was a page before the main body of the text that lists the members of the Useless Information Society, but try as I might, I didn't even see a website reference that I could inquire more about the references used.

Because I have no easy way to validate the information presented, I give the book two stars. Do I regret the purchase? No. Even if some of the information may be inaccurate (I have no clue), the hours spent in the airport flew by as I read. I normally have a difficult time concentrating while I read in airports with the intermittent announcements, foot traffic, and conversation from my husband.

Flesh and Bone: A Body Farm Novel by Jefferson Bass

2009-01-11T18:56:00.000-08:00

Flesh and Bone: A Body Farm Novel by Jefferson Bass was a book I stumbled upon while attending Killer Nashville 2008. Dr. Bill Bass was the keynote speaker and also half of the Jefferson Bass writing team. I was mesmerized by Dr. Bass, a renowned forensic anthropologist. He was a delightful speaker who is one of, if not the expert in the field of forensic anthropology. Not only was he informative, but he had a wonderful sense of humor. I imagine that anyone who can work with bodies all day would have to have a sense of humor just to be able to sleep at night.

It was Dr. Bass' two presentations that convinced me to purchase the three paperback Body Farm novels available while attending the conference. There was a fourth out in paperback, but I'm not in the habit of buying hardback books if I've already bought other books in the same purchase. Though I didn't stay to ask him to sign the three novels I bought, I was pleased when I opened them because he had signed the copies that Barnes and Noble had for sale prior to his talk. A signed author copy always encourages me to read, read, read!

Although the majority of the talk was regarding real life cases in which Dr. Bass had worked, he explained that he provides the science behind the novels while the other half of the writing team, Jon Jefferson, writes the prose. Because the protagonist in the novel, Dr. Bill Brockton, is a forensic anthropologist, I felt that the amount of science and explanation that the character went through as he solved the murders in this book were justified. If I hadn't heard Dr. Bass speak before reading and purchasing Flesh and Bone, I may have felt it was a little overkill.

After seeing the pictures in Dr. Bass' presentation about various things that the human body does when it decays outdoors, I could more easily picture some of the things that Dr. Brockton experiences in the novel. What stuck with me the most was that the skin on a body's hand (and fingerprints) will shed away from the flesh after a period of time like a snake shedding its skin. I would have never in my wildest dreams have imagined a dead body to do that in the course of decomposition. There was a lot of science, but I wouldn't say that I felt grossed out by the descriptions either.

There were several plot points that took me by surprise while reading Flesh and Bone. I was able to guess a few things too. I would say that Flesh and Bone was a good read, even if it is only read a little bit at a time. I took around four months to read it, usually while on my half hour lunch breaks at work. There are some books that get confusing if stretched out that long. Flesh and Bone had a plot that was easy enough to remember if read in 20 minute chunks.

Overall I give this book four stars. The only thing that held me back from rating it as five stars was that I was able to guess some of the things that happened at the end. There was still enough of a surprise factor for me to rate it highly, however.

The Pillars Of The Earth by Ken Follett

2009-01-08T13:55:00.000-08:00

The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett has been one of the most refreshing books I have ever read. I was captivated by the plot from page one. Follett built this characters in such a way that I felt like I knew them, heroes and villains alike. This was a rare treat of a book to read. The copy I read was mass market paperback. 983 pages flew by faster than any other book I've consumed thus far because I had to find out what was going to happen next.

Because I don't give the books' plot away in the course of my reviews, I won't go into so much detail as to ruin the book, but I will mention a few things in case you're wanting to go out and buy a copy. Follett's characters travel extensively throughout Europe. The time period is the twelfth century England. If you're a history buff or love historical fiction, this is the book for you! My head hurts when I think about the amount of research that would have been necessary to write this novel.

Another reason I recommend The Pillars of the Earth is that it is a very simple, yet deep story. Both of my parents read it before I did. My mother mainly reads light romance and Oprah pick books. I've never seen my father read fiction. EVER. He also loved Pillars of the Earth. I'm a bookworm and enjoy many types of books, but when I realized both my mother and father had read Pillars of the Earth from the library, I was shocked. My mom read it in under three weeks, then my father read it when she renewed it.

Naturally, I wanted a copy for myself. Books that are nearly 1000 pages don't agree with me if I'm forced to read them in a short amount of time. It made an excellent Christmas gift. Even so, I finished it in approximately three weeks as well, even though I owned a copy of my own. My mother-in-law is also reading Pillars of the Earth and has discussed early chapters with me already.

Overall, this book is a must read! *****